PAM. 


REPORT 

BY  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 


OF  THE 


PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  OF  MASS. 


PUBLISHED  BY  VOTE  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION. 


VUBNEiT  &  RUSSELL,  PRINTERS, 

No.  7  0  JOHN  STEEET. 


1860. 


LAY  CO-OPERATION: 


A.  REPORT 

BY  A  COMMITTEE  OF  THE 


P^bsioitiEji 


OF  THE 


PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  OF  MASS. ' 


PUBLISHED  BY  VOTE  OP  THE  ASSOCIATION. 


TUDNEF  &  RUSSELL,  PRINTERS, 

No.  79  JOHN  STEEET. 


186  0. 


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At  a  Meeting  of  the  Western  Association  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  of  Massachusetts,  in  December  last,  “  a  Committee 
was  appointed  to  prepare  a  paper  on  the  subject  of  Lay  Co-operation. 
The  Rev.  Messrs.  S.  P.  Parker  and  J.  P.  Spaulding  were  appointed 
that  Committee.” 

At  a  subsequent  Meeting  of  the  Association  at  N.  Adams,  it  was 
resolved  that  the  report  of  the  above  Committee  be  published  for  distribution 
in  the  several  Parishes  of  the  Missionary  District,  at  the  expense  of  the 
Association. 


REPORT. 


- - 

4i 

From  a  somewhat  intimate  knowledge  of  the  state 
of  religion  in  New-England,  we  are  persuaded  that 
it  contains  as  purely  missionary  ground  as  almost  any 
portion  of  our  country.  Reliable  statistics  recently 
gathered  —  embracing  Maine,  New-Hampshire,  Ver¬ 
mont,  and  Massachusetts — inform  us,  that  on  an  av¬ 
erage,  one^KaTf 'orthe  population  never  enter  a  place 
of  worship,  except  on  extraordinary  occasions ;  that 
only  one  third  are  regular  in  their  attendance  ;  and 
that,  after  deducting  those  who  are  unavoidably  de¬ 
tained  at  home,  not  more  than  one  fourth,  including 
the  unevangelical,  attend  regularly  from  Sunday  to 
Sunday.  (See  report  of  Home  Missionary  Society,  in 
Boston  Recorder,  July,  1858.) 

Farther :  they  among  us  who  profess  Christianity 
are  greatly  divided.  There  are  numerous  isms,  which 
reject  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  or  receive  it  only  as 
they  make  it  harmonize  with  the  teaching  of  the 
light  within  them.  The  orthodoxy  even  of  the  Pil¬ 
grim  Fathers  ”  has  been,  to  a  large  extent,  aban¬ 
doned.  The  Apostle’s  Creed  is  to  many  unknown, 
and  by  many  rejected.  The  result  is  what  might  be 
expected.  Multitudes,  who  claim  to  be  evangelical 


6 


believers,  practically  divorce  their  Christian  faith  and 
experience  from  self-denial  and  obedience  to  the  posi¬ 
tive  commands  of  Christ.  That  form  of  error  widely 
prevails  which  assumes  that  sincerity  is  the  only  test 
of  Christian  character  ;  which  disbelieves  in  Chris¬ 
tianity  as  the  institution  of  Christ ;  and  which  treats 
His  sacraments  with  practical  contempt.  Wide  spread 
spiritual  apathy,  obduracy  and  deadness,  are  the  le¬ 
gitimate  and  rank  harvest  in  this  field.  The  old, 
positive,  historical  Faith  of  the  Scriptures,  of  the 
primitive  Christians,  of  the  four  great  general  coun¬ 
cils,  has  survived  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  compara¬ 
tively  few  among  us.  Thus,  the  necessities 

of  the  country  furnish  God’s  opportunity  for  His 
Church. 

That  Church  is  at  once  Evangelical  and  Catholic. 
She  proclaims  Christ  crucified  as  the  only  hope  of  the 
world  ;  His  spirit  to  be  needed  alike  by  the  subtle 
phijosopher  and  the  darkened  savage,  to  re-create  the 
heart.  As  His  institution,  she  keeps  and  transmits 
i\ie  faith  once  delivered  to  the  Saints  ;  founded  on  the 
Bible,  as  interpreted  by  the  Apostles’  and  Nicene 
Creeds  ;  battled  for  by  Athanasius  against  the  Arians, 
and  by  Augustine  against  the  Pelagians  ;  clung  to 
by  the  Universal  Church  before  the  separation  of  the 
East  and  West ;  proclaimed  anew  in  trumpet  tones  by 
the  English  Beformers ;  the  faith  of  Christianity^ 

which  is  THE  WHOLE  TRUTH  OF  BeVELATION. 

Again,  the  Church  is  Christ’s  Body,  and  therefore 


1 


the  embodiment  of  His  Truth  and  Love.  The  earth 
brightens  wherever  she  moves.  The  wretched,  the 
ignorant,  the  heathen,  far  or  nigh,  can  no  more  live 
within  her  reach,  unpitied,  unhelped,  untaught,  than 
they  could  have  come  in  contact  with  Jesus  as  He 
moved  throughout  Judea  and  Galilee,  without  feeling 
His  everlasting  love.  Accordingly  she  delights,  like 
Him,  in  relieving  suffering  and  sorrow.  She  warms, 
and  clothes,  and  feeds  the  destitute.  She  watches  and 
nurses  the  sick  with  true  sympathy.  Hepresenting  her 
Lord,  speaking  for  Him  in  His  own  gentle  voice,  glow¬ 
ing  with  His  personal  love  to  man,  she  kindles  their 
affections  into  fife,  -excites  contrition  for  sin,  and  the 
desire  for  pardon  and  holiness.  She  thus  wins  their 
hearts  to  the  Saviour  ;  and  secures  for  herself,  as 
Christ’s  living  Body,  the  approval  of  their  judgment. 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  maintains  this 
two-fold  character,  God  calls  her  to  testify  to  the 
Faith  of  Christ  Crucified,  whole  and  undefiled,  and  to 
bring  a  Gospel  full  of  tenderness  to  the  masses  of  the 
unevangelized  people.  Her  duty  is  plain ;  for  on 
whom  does  the  Saviour  look  at  this  moment  with  the 
greatest  compassion,  hut  on  those  who,  like  Himself 
on  earth,  have  not  where  to  lay  their  heads  ?  Whom 
would  he  heal  but  the  sick  ?  Whom  would  He  find 
but  the  lost  ?  Whom  uplift  hut  the  downfallen  ? 
As  His  living  Representative,  therefore,  the  Church 
must  bear  forth  both  her  great  central  doctrine  of  an 
Incarnate  and  Crucified  Saviour,  and  his  succor,  and 
peace  unto  the  world. 


8 


But  our  people  are  not  half  awake  to  the  import¬ 
ance  of  their  mission.  They  are  not  conscious  even 
of  their  strength.  Our  present  appliances  are  insuffi¬ 
cient  for  the  emergency.  For  our  Clergy  alone  cannot 
accomplish  the  work.  The  officers  of  the  army  cannot 
fight,  single-handed,  and  win  the  victory.  An  ener¬ 
getic  minister,  fully  alive  to  the  calls  to  do  good  in 
his  parish,  be  his  work  in  city,  manufacturing  village, 
or  rural  district,  will  he  perplexed  hy  the  multiplicity, 
and  borne  down  by  the  weight  of  his  cares  and  toils. 
His  charge,  like  that  of  Moses,  is  too  heavy  for  him. 
He  must  not  be  left  to  a  disheartening,  solitary  strug¬ 
gle.  His  hands  must  be  upheld,  or  how  can  he  pre¬ 
vail  ? 

The  desire  is  widely  felt  for  the  restoration  of  the 
proper  work  of  the  Diaconate.  This  is  one  movement 
in  the  right  direction.  But  that  without  which  we 
must  inevitably  fail  to  occupy  the  ground  that  invites 
us,  is  the  communication  to  our  people  of  their  Mas¬ 
ter’s  personal  Love  for  men  ;  and  preparatory  and  sub¬ 
sidiary  thereto,  the  restoration  of  the  true  powers  and 
Spiritual  Functions  of  the  Laity, 

We  have  neglected  too  long  an  element  of  strength 
which  has  been  one  of  the  main  reliances  of  other 
bodies  of  Christians.  The  skilful  working  of  the  Lay 
element  by  the  Methodists,  has  been  one  of  the  prin¬ 
cipal  instruments  of  the  singular  efficiency  of  those 
Christian  brethren.  The  employment  of  their  Church 
members,  by  the  Orthodox  Congregationalists,  by  the 


9 


Baptists,  and  other  Protestants,  has  constituted  one  of 
their  strongholds  of  power  ;  while  it  has  ever  been 
the  policy  of  Rome  to  turn  to  her  own  purposes  the 
forces  begotten  by  the  zeal  of  her  Laity.  In  this  spirit 
she  has  fostered  the  various  Associations,  Orders,  and 
Brotherhoods  that  have  risen  within  her,  and  given 
them  her  formal  sanction. 

This  neglect  on  our  part  to  stir  up  and  marshal  for 
Christ’s  service  the  ranks  of  our  people,  has  been  a 
lamentable  mistake.  But  it  has  sprung  from  no  in¬ 
herent  defect  in  our  system.  It  has  been  the  result  of 
accident,  in  part ;  but  still  more  of  a  conservatism 
temporarily  carried  to  extremes. 

Our  Church  has  retained,  and  professes  to  hold, 
whatever  offices  and  powers  were  left  her  by  the  Apos¬ 
tles.  The  Clergy  were  not  then  the  Church.  The 
Laity  sat  in  the  Council  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  Coun- 
ciliar  Decree  was  the  consentient  voice  of  the  Apostles, 
and  Elders,  and  Brethren  (Acts  xv.  23).  So  now  our 
Church  recognizes  the  Laity.  They  sit  in  her  Councils 
as  Legislators.  They  take  part  in  the  election  of  our 
Bishops.  They  exercise  controlling  functions  as  War¬ 
dens  and  Vestrymen.  They  are  an  acknowledged 
Order  and  Power  in  the  Church.  The  Clergy  ought, 
therefore,  to  look  to  the  Laity  for  help  in  the  work  of 
their  Master. 

But  the  Laity  have  been  so  long  suffered  and  en¬ 
couraged  to  excuse  themselves  from  co-operation  in 
the  Spiritual  Work  of  the  Church,  that  it  becomes  ne- 


10 


cessaiy  to  determine  what  their  Spiritual  Functions 
are  ;  what  are  the  precise  limits  of  the  work  that  be¬ 
longs  to  them.  We  must  know  our  resources,  else  we 
cannot  hope  to  employ  them. 

That  they  have  Spiritual  Functions  would  seem  as 
clear  as  that  they  are  members  of  Christ’s  Body.  If 
a  man’s  eyes,  ears,  lungs,  or  heart,  fail  to  do  their 
proper  work,  we  conclude  that  they  are  paralyzed  by 
disease  or  are  dead.  No  fanciful  analogy,  hut  plain 
sense,  then,  suggests  that  men  or  women  whose  virtues 
and  energies  are  not  quickened  into  action  in  behalf 
of  the  world,  and  who  fail  to  partake  of  their  Lord’s 
toiling,  sacrificing  life  in  its  service,  are  sick  members, 
or  dead  members,  of  Christ !  Their  living  implies 
their  working.  What,  then,  is  the  work  which  is  the 
legitimate  province  of  the  Laity  ? 

We  reply :  Every  duty  which  is  not  exclusively 
limited  to  the  Clergy  by  the  Scriptures  and  the  Consti¬ 
tution  and  Canons  of  the  Church.  The  commissioning 
of  Christ’s  Ministers ;  the  administration  of  the  Ordi¬ 
nances,  and  of  Discipline ;  the  official  proclamation  of 
the  Gospel,  as  the  deputed  Embassage  of  Christ ;  the 
Pastoral  Care :  this  is  the  sum  of  Clerical  Function  in 
its  several  degrees.  Yet  without  encroachment  upon 
the  Ministry  proper,  with  full  recognition  of  the  prin¬ 
ciple  of  subordination,  and  of  instituted  orders  of  ad¬ 
ministration  and  of  gifts,  there  are  points  of  approach 
in  the  work  of  the  Laity  to  that  of  the  Ministry. 
What  is  clearly  on  the  people’s  side  of  the  line,  which 


11 


divides  their  labor  from  that  of  the  Clergy,  belongs  to 
the  people. 

Now,  it  is  every  man’s  duty  to  he  a  preacher  of 
righteousness.”  We  mean  by  this,  more  than  the 
silent  influence  of  example,  and  the  benign  light 
of  a  holy  life.  We  maintain  that  there  is  a  sphere, 
below  the  Ministry,  for  the  direct  co-operation  of  the 
Laity  with  the  Clergy,  in  the  eflbrt  to  extend  the 
Gospel. 

In  this  sense,  the  Disciples,  without  distinction,  in 
the  Apostolic  Church,  were  preachers.  The  great  sal¬ 
vation  was  the  absorbing  theme  of  all  men.  The 
brethren  declared  what  God  had  done  for  their  souls. 
They  published  abroad  the  glad  tidings.  They  ex¬ 
plained  and  enforced  them.  They  were  ready  to  give 
answer  when  asked  for  the  reason  for  the  hope  that 
was  in  them,  according  to  Apostolic  injunction.  And 
what  was  all  this  but  preaching  ? 

This  argument  is  not  wholly  inference.  The  multi¬ 
tudes  converted  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  beyond  all 
question,  carried  the  Gospel  to  their  widely  distant 
homes.  The  Disciples,  who  “were  scattered  abroad 
upon  the  persecution  that  arose  about  Stephen,” 
preached  the  Word  to  the  Jews  at  Phenice,  Cyprus^ 
and  Antioch.  Among  them  were  “  men  of  Cyprus 
and  Cyrene,  which,  when  they  were  come  to  Antioch 
spake  unto  the  Grecians,  preaching  the  Lord  Jesus' 
(Acts  xi.  19-21).  Such  success  attended  these  Lay 
Pioneers,  that  when  the  “  tidings”  of  the  “  great  num- 


12 


ber”  they  had  converted  came  to  the  Church  at  Jeru¬ 
salem,  an  Apostle^  was  sent  forth  to  instruct  them 
more  fully,  to  confirm  their  faith,  and  to  organize  them 
into  a  Church  (Acts  xi.  22).  St.  Paul  salutes  many 
private  Christians  by  name  who  had  helped  him  In 
the  Ministry,  and  who,  like  the  “beloved  Persis,”  had 
“labored  much  in  the  Lord”  (Rom.  xvi.  12).  It  will 
avail  nothing  against  our  argument — it  will  rather 
strengthen  it — to  say  that  there  was  then  a  peculiar 
exigency,  and  that  special  gifts  were  bestowed;  for 
these  special  gifts  were  common  to  Clergy  and  Laity. 
Why  was  Ordination  necessary  in  the  one  case  and 
not  in  the  other?  The  very  bestowing  of  gifts  for 
preaching,  and  yet  withholding  Ordination,  is  the  seal 
of  the  legitimacy  of  preaching  by  the  Laity,  under 
the  prescribed  restrictions. 

And  how  could  there  have  been  impropriety  in 
what  was  inevitable  ?  They  had  attained  for  them¬ 
selves  the  knowledge  of  the  way  of  life,  how  could 
they  help  imparting  it  ?  They  saw  their  brethren  and 
friends  perishing  around  them ;  was  no  voice,  telling 
how  they  might  escape  from  eternal  death,  to  pass 
their  lips  ?  The  fervency  of  their  love  to  Christ,  and 
therefore  to  men,  must  thus  have  constrained  them  to 
a  direct  proclamation  of  the  Gospel. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  this  Lay  preaching  was  but 
the  natural  result  of  the  faith,  warmth,  and  energy, 
which  characterized  the  youth  of  the  Church:  nor 


*  Barnabas. 


13 


that  the  circumstances  of  the  times  alone  made  it 
justifiable.  For  these  Apostolic  precedents  have  the 
force  of  laws,  and  become  fixed  principles  of  duty  and 
action.  The  nature  of  the  case  enforces  the  argument. 
Men  always,  and  everywhere,  are  responsible,  as  much 
for  the  good  they  can  do  to  the  souls  and  bodies  of 
their  fellow-men,  as  for  their  own  faith  and  piety. 
They  can  no  more  resign  to  others  the  exclusive  privi¬ 
lege  of  laboring  for  man’s  highest  good,  than  they  can 
worship  God  by  proxy.  What  it  is  their  right  and 
their  privilege  to  do,  becomes  their  imperative  duty. 
That  they  may^  is  proof  that  they  mmt  exert  every 
faculty  in  the  cause  of  Christ.  Nothing  here  can 
restrict  them,  except  Revelation  itself ;  and  Revela¬ 
tion  not  only  speaks  no  restriction,  but  actually  fur¬ 
nishes  precedent  for  that  very  action  of  the  Laity  for 
which  we  are  pleading. 

The  ages  of  the  Church,  next  succeeding  the  Apos¬ 
tles,  support,  by  their  practice,  this  our  interpreta¬ 
tion  of  the  New  Testament.  Among  Laymen  may  be 
reckoned  apologists,  theologians,  and  Church  histo¬ 
rians.  The  learned  Origen  was  a  teacher  of  theology, 
and  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  distinguished  for  his 
success  in  making  converts,^  at  least  seven  years 
before  he  could  be  ordained  Deacon  by  the  Canons  of 
the  Church.”^  He  was  permitted  by  the  Bishops  of 
Caesarea  and  Jerusalem,  to  preach  publicly  in  their 

1.  Eusebius.  Eccl.  Hist.,  B.  VI.,  c.  3. 

2.  Bingham’s  Origines  Eccles.  B.  III.,  c.  10,  sect.  2. 


14 


presence.  And  he  is  defended  on  this  ground :  that 
‘‘  wherever  there  are  found  those  qualified  to  benefit 
the  hrethern,  they  are  exhorted  by  the  Bishops  to  ad¬ 
dress  the  people of  which  several  instances?  are 
cited.^  Laymen  became  also  successful  missionaries  ; 
of  whom,  Frumentius,  who  converted  the  Indians, 

building  for  them  a  house  of  prayer,”  and  “instruct¬ 
ing  them  in  the  principles  of  Christianity  and  the 
“  captive  W’oman,”  who  “  taught  the  way  of  truth  ” 
to  the  Iberians,  by  “  meekly  explaining  the  Divine 
Doctrines,”^  are  familiar  examples. 

The  numerous  inferior  Orders  show  how  completely 
all  classes  were  enlisted  in  the  work  of  the  Church. 
There  were  the  Deaconesses,^  probably  alluded  to  by 
St.  Paul  f  by  Pliny,  in  his  Epistle  to  Trajan  f  by 
Tertullian,'^  and  the  Fathers  generally ;  whose  office 
was,  among  other  things,  to  instruct  women  prepara¬ 
tory  to  their  baptism,  and  “  to  visit  and  attend  upon 
women  who  were  sick  or  in  distress.”  There  were  the 
Catechists,®  who  might  he  Laymen  as  well  as  Cler¬ 
gymen,  and  who  were  to  teach  the  elementary  princi¬ 
ples  of  Christianity.  These  might  be  masters  in 
schools  in  which  theology  was  taught,  and  were  ad- 

1.  Euseb.  E.  H.,  B.  VI.,  c.  19,  towards  the  end. 

2.  Socrates’  Eccl.  Hist.,  B.  I.,  c.  19. 

3.  Theodoret’s  Eccl.  Hist.,  B.  I.,  c.  24. 

4.  Bingham’s  Origines,  B.  II.,  c.  22. 

5.  Korn.  XVI. ;  I  Tim.,  V.,  3,  4,  9,  10.  See  Commentaries  in  locis. 

6.  Pliny  Lib.  X.,  Epist.  97,*ancillae,  qnae  ministrae  dicebantur. 

7.  Viduae.  See  place  quoted  in  Bingham. 

8.  Bingham,  B.  III.,  c.  10. 


15 


mitted  to  preach  in  private  auditories  appointed  for 
the  purpose.  There  were  the  Readers/  whose  duty 
was,  to  read  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  church,  and  who 
might  also  he  Catechists.  There  were  the  Para- 
holani^  so  called,  from  their  “boldness  in  exposing 
their  lives  to  attend  upon  the  sick  in  all  infectious 
and  pestilential  distempers  who  are  said,  in  the 
statement  of  their  office,^  to  be  “  deputed  to  attend 
upon  the  sick,  and  to  take  care  of  their  bodies  in  time 
of  their  weakness  not  to  mention  the  Defenders  of 
the  Pooi\  and  many  other  orders  of  men,^  who,  by  the 
fulfilment  of  special  functions  assigned  them,  might 
be  of  great  assistance  to  the  Clergy,  and  contribute  to 
the  efficiency  and  advancement  of  the  Church. 

Indeed,  energetic  Lay  co-operation  and  the  pros¬ 
perity  of  the  Church  have  ever  been  inseparable.  It 
was  so  at  the  Reformation  in  England  and  elsewhere ; 
and  has  been  so  since  to  the  present  time.  Mr.  Fran, 
cis  Wharton,®  of  Kenyon  College,  in  a  vigorous 
pamphlet,  shows  conclusively  that,  “  for  the  prelim¬ 
inary  purpose  of  leading  the  careless  in  such  a  popu¬ 
lation  ”  (to  wit,  people  outside  the  regular  dispensa¬ 
tion  of  the  means  of  grace)  “  toward  the  Church  and 


1.  Bingham,  B.  III.,  c.  5. 

2.  Bingham,  B.  III.,  c.  9. 

3.  Cod.  Theod.  lib,  16,  Tit.  2,  de  Episc,  leg.  42.  Parabolani,  qui  ad  curanda 
debilium  aegra  Corpora  Deputantur,  &c.  See  quotation  in  Bingham. 

4.  Bingham,  B.  III.,  “Of  the  inferior  orders  of  the  Clergy  in  the  Primitive 
hurch.” 

5.  The  Missouri  Valley  and  Lay  Preaching, 


the  Ministry,^  Lay  scripture-reading  and  preaching 
form  an  agency^  which  is  the  most  practical,  and  the 

I 

most  consistent  with  the  means  and  prosperity  of  the 
Church  that  “this  agency  is  in  accordance  with  the 
usages  of  the  Church  at  the  periods^  when  her  mis¬ 
sionary  labors  were  most  blessed and  that  “  its  active 
exercise  is  at  least  not  inconsistent  with  the  main¬ 
tenance  of  a  high  degree  of  clerical  independence, 
spirituality  and  dignity.”^ 

This  is  the  large  and  wise  view.  It  is  the  safe 
mean  between  two  dangerous  extremes  :  the  denial  to 
the  Laity  of  all  spiritual  function,  and  the  confound¬ 
ing  "of  the  offices  of  Laity  and  Clergy.  The  former  of 


1.  “  The  Clergy  examined  before  the  Bishop  of  Exeter’s  late  Committee  on  Spiri¬ 
tual  Destitution  recognize  two  agencies  as  being  peculiarly  and  almost  solely  instru¬ 
mental  in  awakening  non-churchgoers  to  a  sense  of  their  religious  danger ;  the  Scrip¬ 
ture  Keader’s  Society,  and  the  London  City  Mission.  Both  these  work  through 
Lajnnen,  who  penetrate  where  a  Clergyman,  by  his  profession,  could  not  enter.  They 
meet  error  and  sin  in  their  own  holes.”— Wharton,  p.  18. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Champney,  well  known  as  one  of  the  most  efficient  of  the  London 
Clergy,  before  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Lords,  strongly  attested  the  great  work 
that  had  been  done  by  the  employment  of  Lay  agents  ;  in  the  increase  of  schools  ; 
visiting  the  sick  and  infirm ;  bringing  the  people  into  closer  contact  with  the  Clergy  ; 
enabling  the  latter  to  exercise  better  supervision  over  their  communicants,  etc.  And 
Dr.  Hook,  addressing  the  same  committee,  says,  “There  are  among  the  working 
classes  many  good  Biblical  scholars,  men  well  informed  in  English,  and  especially  in 
sacred  literature,  who  are  able,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  to  talh  the  Gospel,  where 
no  Minister  would  be  admitted,  and  who  might  be  very  useful  in  visiting  the  sick. 
They  can  be  employed  without  quitting  their  trades.  *  *  I  have  employed  such, 

myself,  paying  them  no  salary,  but  having  an  understanding  that,  when  needed,  they 
might  receive  some  compensation.  These  persons  would  he  qualified  even  for  out~door 
preaching.  I  think  that  those  who,  like  myself,  believe  in  the  Divine  institution  of 
the  Christian  Ministry,  and  who  think  that  the  Stewards  of  the  Mysteries  of  God 
should  be  regularly  ordained,  would  prefer  the  employment  of  workingmen  to  invite 
people  of  their  class  to  repair  to  Church  and  to  participate  in  the  ordinances  of  the 
Gospel,  to  the  adoption  of  any  system  of  out-door  preaching  by  the  Clergy,  It  would 
undoubtedly  be  more  effective.  ” 

2.  See  Xote  A.  in  Appendix. 

3.  See  Appendix,  Note  B. 

4.  See  Appendix,  Note  C. 


17 


these  strikes  at  the  efficiency  of  the  Church  ;  the  latter 
at  the  Church  itself,  as  a  Society  founded  by  Christ, 
and  invested  with  His  authority. 

The  principle  thus  established,  finds  already,  in 
some  of  its  applications,  a  general  recognition.  Our 
Bishops,  in  this  country,  have  always  given  license 
to  Lay  Headers.  By  some  of  them,  the  permission  to 
catechize  and  exhort  has  also  been  allowed.  The  sys¬ 
tem  of  Sunday  Schools  originated  in  Lay-Agency,  and 
is  a  noble  example  of  it.  The  devoted  staff  of  men 
and  women  laboring  with  our  Clergy  in  Africa  and 
China,  has  been  largely  instrumental  in  the  efficiency 
and  success  of  those  missions.  The  action  of  the  late 
General  Convention  in  the  appointment  of  a  Commit¬ 
tee  on  Lay  co-operation,  consisting  of  one  layman  from 
each  diocese,  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  these  pre¬ 
cedents,  and  shows  the  Church’s  sense  of  the  impor¬ 
tance  of  the  subject. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  we  should  be  justified 
in  applying  the  principle  to  the  field  of  labor  outside 
of  our  established  parishes ;  especially  when  the 
scarcity  of  clergy,  and  of  means  to  support  them, 
might  otherwise  prevent  the  introduction  of  the  Church. 

But  in  the  Parochial  work  this  co-operation  is  indis¬ 
pensable  to  the  success  of  our  Church.  The  Laity 
may  do  much  which  to  the  Clergy  is  often  difficult  or  • 
impossible.^  They  should  deem  it  their  special  duty 
to  become  ‘‘  helps”  (1  Cor.  xii.  28)  to  the  Pastor.  By  a 


1.  See  note  1,  p.  16,  and  note  B,  in  Appendix. 

2 

« 


18 


proper  division  of  labor,  under  his  direction,  they 
should  share  with  him  a  portion  of  his  cares.  Our 
Laity  should  be  to  the  commissioned  Ministry  what 
the  brooks  and  streams  are  to  the  rivers  and  seas,  that 
intersect  the  land  in  every  direction,  and  pour  into 
them  the  wealth  they  have  gathered.  The  members 
of  our  Parishes,  warming  their  own  hearts  by  work¬ 
ing  for  the  Redeemer ;  visiting  the  sick ;  carrying 
alms  to  the  poor ;  distributing  approved  books  and 
tracts ;  teaching  not  only  children,  but  adults,  in 
waste  places,  where  the  voice  of  the  Gospel  seldom 
comes,  and  thus  perfecting  their  own  knowledge  ;  dis¬ 
cussing  with  the  irreligious  the  truths  of  the  Bible 
and  the  Prayer-Book ;  conciliating,  convincing,  and 
gathering  into  the  Church  all  classes  of  the  commu¬ 
nity,  particularly  the  neglected  ;  can  most  effectively 
aid  the  Pastor  and  the  Church,  and  glorify  their 
Saviour. 

The  Church  expects  such  exertions  from  all  who 
join  in  her  services.  In  the  responsive  parts  of  the 
Liturgy,  and  in  the  Chants  and  Hymns,  the  people  are 
associates  of  the  Minister,  in  conducting  the  public 
worship  of  God.  The  solemn  utterance  aloud  of  con¬ 
fession,  prayer,  and  praise,  lays  the  whole  Christian 
obligation  directly  on  their  souls.  Audibly  proclaim¬ 
ing  before  the  world,  on  every  occasion  of  public  wor¬ 
ship,  their  religious  purposes  and  vows,  they  condemn 
themselves  out  of  their  own  mouths,  if  they  negle^ct 
the  offices  of  love  implied  herein. 


9 


19 


Thus  the  duties  of  the  Laity,  as  fellow-helpers’’ 
with  the  Clergy,  are  as  evident  as  they  are  essential. 
Yet  we  find  in  our  people  an  apathy — we  should 
rather  say  inertness — which  is  truly  alarming.  It  is 
immeasurably  retarding  our  progress — nay,  it  is  the 
direct  cause  of  very  much  unfruitfulness  in  ourselves 
and  in  the  world.  Let  us  look  the  evil  fearlessly  in 
the  face.  It  is  disaster  within  the  Church,  and  with¬ 
out  it. 

It  is  disaster  within  the  Church.  It  is  a  law  of 
God,  that  neglect  of  duty,  long  continued,  extin¬ 
guishes  the  Divine  Life.  If  this  neglect  become  con¬ 
crete  and  systematic,  then,  in  spite  of  the  form  of 
godliness,  God’s  living  power  will  have  fled.  The 
habit  of  walling  our  souls  in  with  whatever  is  pre¬ 
cious  in  the  means  of  grace ;  of  raising  our  eyes  to 
Heaven  for  our  own  salvation,  with  no  prayer,  no 
effort  for  the  abandoned,  the  perishing,  makes  ‘‘  sweet 
religion  a  rhapsody  of  words.”  Our  most  solemn  be¬ 
lief  becomes  a  barren  dogma,  a  delusion,  attractive, 
but  full  of  peril.  We  build  to  the  God  of  Love  a 
temple  of  ice,  glancing  with  the  hues  of  heaven 
to  the  eye,  while  the  atmosphere  within  is  the  chill 
of  Death !  The  great  reason  why  Missions  in  our 
Church  languish,  why  so  many  of  our  Parishes  make 
no  returns  for  a  Redeemer’s  Love,  by  helping  to  extend 
His  Truth  among  the  Heathen  abroad  and  the  Infidel 
at  home  ;  why  a  Christianity  dwarfed  and  poor  in 
fruits,  so  often  prevails  among  us,  in  spite  of  the  abun¬ 
dant  agencies  of  grace  in  the  Bible,  the  Prayer-Book, 


20 


and  the  Church ;  is  because  we  do  deliberate  violence 
to  our  Holy  Faith  ;  we  tear  out  from  its  heart  the  per¬ 
vading,  energizing  Love  of  Christ  for  men. 

Hence  it  is  disaster  outside  of  the  Church.  The 
very  nature  of  the  charities  of  the  Church  implies  that 
they  are  the  gushings  of  Love  from  a  community  of 
hearts.  But  how  little  are  the  charities  of  the  Church 
thus  poured  forth  upon  those  who  need  them.  To 
illustrate :  Suppose  that  through  the  children  whom 
the  Parish  Clergyman  has  gathered  into  the  Sunday- 
School,  or  that  by  other  offices  of  kindness,  he  has 
persuaded  two  or  three  out  of  that  large  Sahhath- 
profaning  population  around  us  to  enter  our  place  of 
worship.  They  are  strangers  to  our  people  and  to  our 
forms.  Conventionalities,  social  separations,  put  a 
gulf  between  them  and  us.  So  far  as  sympathy  and 
acquaintance  go,  these  people  are  isolate.  The  look 
which  they  attract  is  a  look  of  wonder.  They  feel 
alone  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd !  alone  in  the  House  of 
God, , whither  the  feeling  of  loneliness  should  never 
come.  Disheartened,  or  repelled,  perhaps  they  never 
enter  our  Church  more.  They  seek  some  more  con¬ 
genial  sanctuary  with  a  humaner  aspect  and  warmer 
air  !  or  they  desert  the  House  of  God  forever ! 

How  many  souls  have  been  lost  to  the  Sa¬ 
viour,  lost  to  the  Church,  through  this  shameful 
neglect  of  Christians  !  Ought  these  persons  to  have 
lived  unknown  and  uncared  for  ?  Ought  not  the 
baptized  members  of  Christ’s  Church,  and  more 


21 


especially  her  communicants,  to  have  gone  forth, 
like  their  Master,  to  seek  and  to  save  them  ? 
The  process  is  short  from  doubting  man  to  doubt¬ 
ing  God.  Nothing  more  certainly  leads  to  irreli- 
gion  in  the  human  heart,  than  this  constant  ex¬ 
perience  of  the  apathy  and  selfishness  of  Chris¬ 
tians.  It  is  stubborn  and  awful  fact,  that  this 
lack  of  Christ’s  Love  in  the  hearts  of  His  dis¬ 
ciples,  this  practical  un-Christianity,  has  fearful  ac¬ 
count  to  render,  for  the  alarming  and  spreading 
unbelief  and  Heathenism  in  New-England. 

How,  then,  can  we  wonder,  that  so  often  little 
should  remain  within  the  Sanctuary  but  the  living 
corpse  of  Pharisaism ;  while  outside,  there  is  spread 
around  us  a  festering  mass  of  Infidelity  ? 

The  tendencies  thus  inevitably  growing  from  our 
prevailing  insensibility,  if  they  are  not  counteracted, 
must  carry  themselves  into  woeful  results !  Alas  ! 
for  our  Church,  if  reverence  for  the  Ministry  beget 
freezing  torpor  in  the  people :  if,  in  avoiding  Uzzah’s 
sin  of  presumptuously  laying  hands  on  God’s  Ark,  the 
Tribes  of  God  forsake  their  place  and  their  duty 
around  that  Ark,  and  beneath  its  very  glories  desert  it 
in  the  battle ! 

The  Clergy  of  this  Association  earnestly  desire  their 
flocks  to  arouse  at  once  to  a  sense  of  the  duty  of  Lay 
co-operation.  To  this  end,  their  own  spiritual  life 
must  be  quickened.  They  must  rise  to  the  true  con¬ 
ception  of  that  Gospel  of  Love  which  they  have 


22 


received,  and  which  they  are  hound,  by  their  Chris¬ 
tian  vows,  to  carry  to  others.  Specially  should  they 
feel  that  the  joy  of  their  own  free  Salvation  is  in¬ 
finitely  heightened,  when  they  lead  others  to  the 
Saviour ;  that  the  Love  of  God  ever  rises  highest  in 
their  hearts,  and  gives  out  most  of  its  electric  fire, 
when  they^touch  others  with  its  flame  ;  that  tempta¬ 
tion  never  is  so  weak.  Heaven  never  so  alluring,  as 
when  they  have  opened  the  doors  of  sin  and  sorrow  to 
Christ’s  Holiness  and  peace ;  when  households,  once 
degraded  and  reprobate,  have,  through  their  efforts, 
become  Christian  and  happy. 

We  would  have  our  Laity  remember,  too,  that  our 
Lord  prepared  the  way,  by  His  works  of  lesser  mercy, 
for  the  reception  of  Eternal  Life.  It  was  Hej  the 
Healer  of  men’s  bodies,  the  Unsealer  of  the  blind  eyes 
and  the  deaf  ears,  that  cried,  ‘‘  Come  unto  me,  all  ye 
who  are  weary  and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest.”  It  was  He,  the  Counsellor  of  the  doubting,  and 
the  Weeper  with  the  bereaved,  who  stood  in  the 
graveyard  at  Bethany,  and  proclaimed,  “I  am  the 
Resurrection  and  the  Life.”  Thus,  on  holy  sympa¬ 
thies,  on  works  of  Love  and  Mercy  to  men’s  bodies, 
did  Christ  build  the  way  for  the  entrance  of  Himself, 
the  Saviour  of  the  soul,  into  their  hearts.  Let  the 
members  of  His  Church  “  go  and  do  likewise.” 

Then  will  our  Laity  feel,  that  though  not  public 
Preachers,  they  have  a  far-reaching  stewardship. 
The  work  to  which  they  are  appointed  is  matter  of 


23 


account  at  the  Judgment  Day.  God  lays  upon  them 
much  of  the  responsibility  for  men’s  temporal  suffer¬ 
ing  and  Eternal  ruin.  They  must  answer  for  the 
keeping  of  their  brother :  it  involves  the  keeping  of 
themselves.  In  words  more  tremendous  than  any 
others  ever  uttered,  Christ  says  unto  each  Christian 
man  and  woman,  ‘‘  Verily,  inasmuch  as  ye  have  not 
done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  my  brethren, 
ye  have  not  done  it  unto  Me.” 

Long  has  our  Church,  by  Christ’s  grace,  been  the 
“  Keeper  and  Witness  of  the  Truth.”  He  now  calls 
her  to  improve  her  present  opportunity  :  to  do  what 
SHE  CAN,  in  order  that  the  comfortable  Gospel  of 
Christ  be  truly  preached,  truly  received,  and  truly 
followed,  in  all  places,  to  the  breaking  down  of  the 
kingdom  of  Sin,  Satan,  and  Death.” 

Hence,  it  becomes  our  solemn  duty  to  organize  our 
ranks  ;  to  call  forth  our  whole  strength ;  not  only  by 
loving  and  faithful  appeal  and  sound  instruction,  but 
by  a  wise  and  forecasting  policy,  to  enlist  and  direct, 
to  the  greatest  glory  of  God,  all  the  latent  energies  of 
our  people. 

We  venture  to  suggest  a  plan  of  organization,  and 
of  concert  of  action,  in  the  parochial  work.  The 
several  Parishes  can  modify  it,  according  to  their 
judgment  and  circumstances. 

After  preparing  the  way,  by  preaching  and  talking 
to  the  people,  each  Pastor  might  assemble  the  men  of 
his  congregation,  willing  to  work,  and  invite  them 


24 


to  organize  a  Brotherhood  or  Association,  of  which 
he  should  he  ex-officio  the  head. 

Money  might  he  raised  by  entrance  fee,  donation, 
subscription,  or  the  offertory,  in  order  to  provide  need¬ 
ful  books,  tracts,  clothing,  food,  and  fuel.  Then  the 
Parish  might  he  districted,  and  one  or  more  persons 
assigned  to  each  district,  who  should  visit  every  family 
having  no  ecclesiastical  connection,  ascertain  their 
spiritual  condition,  and,  wherever  they  can,  by  appeal 
and  instruction,  acts  of  Christian  kindness,  and  by 
alms,  if  expedient,  bring  the  children  to  Sunday- 
School,  and  the  children  and  parents  to  Church. 

Meetings  might  he  held  monthly,  at  which  the 
visitors  should  make  report  of  their  labors.  The  record 
of  the  information  might  he  carefully  kept,  and  work 
he  reassigned  for  report  at  a  subsequent  meeting. 

The  several  committees  should  bring  immediately 
to  the  Pastor,  everything  requiring  his  attention,  and 
seek  his  advice,  especially  in  all  that  belongs  to  the 
Spiritual  work. 

Vestries  might  take  upon  themselves  the  fulfilment 
of  these  duties.  The  Wardens  and  Vestrymen  are 
the  Hector’s  Cabinet  Council,  and  Executive  Com¬ 
mittee,  and  their  responsible  station  in  the  Church 
imposes  on  them  the  duty  of  co-operating  with  him 
in  promoting  the  spiritual  growth  of  the  Parish. 

It  is  very  necessary  that  there  should  he  a  Society 
of  the  women  of  the  Parish,  for  the  purpose  of  prepar- 


25 


ing  clothes  for  the  poor,  and  ministering  to  the  sick, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  Pastor. 

Auxiliary  to  the  above,  there  might  be  a  public 
monthly  meeting  in  the  Church,  on  Sunday  evenings, 
devoted  alternately  to  the  reports  of  these  Home  Mis¬ 
sions  ivithin  the  Parish,  and  to  the  Missions  of  the 
Diocese  and  Church  at  large,  Domestic  and  Foreign. 
This  would  greatly  aid  in  kindling  and  spreading  the 
Missionary  spirit. 

Let  the  people  of  a  Parish  devote  their  best  powers 
and  prayers  to  the  execution  of  some  such  plan,  and 
the  increased  spirituality  and  strength  of  that  Parish, 
under  God,  will  be  instantly  apparent.  It  will  be 
seen  to  drink  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  and  to  be  treading 
in  His  steps.  It  will  become  the  great  channel  of 
men’s  benevolence,  as  well  as  the  means  of  their  sal- . 
vation.  It  will  secure  the  blessing  of  the  poor.  The 
neglected  masses  will  crowd  into  it.  They  will  rise 
up  and  say,  We  will  go  with  you,  for  we  have 
heard  that  God  is  with  you.” 


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APPENDIX. 


NOTE  A. 

A  MEETING  was  held  ill  Leeds,  March,  1859,  for  the  formation  of  a 
“  Yorksliire  Church  of  England  Scripture  Leaders^  Society.’^  The  Bishop 
of  Bipon  presided.  He  explained  that  a  XYest  Riding  Scripture  Readers^ 
Association”  had  existed  since  1852.  It  was  proposed  to  enlarge  its 
basis,  and  call  it  by  the  above  name.  The  Society  was  not  to  interfere 
with  the  province  of  the  parochial  clergy,  but  was  to  be  auxiliary  to  the 
usefulness  of  that  body.  The  readers  were  to  be  communicants  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  of  position  and  ability  to  discharge  efficiently 
their  onerous  house-to-house  duties.  His  Lordship  next  alluded  to  the 
necessity  there  existed  for  calling  in  this  lay  support,”  by  a  statement 
of  the  great  and  increasing  population,  rendering  it  utterly  impossible  for 
the  five  hundred  and  sixty  clergy  of  the  Diocese  to  meet  its  spiritual  wants. 

These  facts  attested,  beyond  dispute,  the  necessity  for  additional  labor¬ 
ers  :  and  the  lay  element  could  discharge  a  great  work,  and  materially 
assist  the  parochial  clergy.”  The  Rev.  Dr.  Hook,  then  Vicar  of  Leeds, 
and  others,  seconded  the  Bishop’s  views.  Resolutions  were  passed  and 
a  committee  appointed,  consisting  of  the  Rev.  Drs.  Hook  and  Sale,  also 
the  Revs.  C.  J.  Camidge,  J.  Bell,  J.  Fawcett,  and  B.  Crosthwaite,  Mr.  J. 
XV.  Childers,  Mr.  E.  B.  Denison,  etc.,  the  number  of  the  laity  being  equal 
to  that  of  clergy.  Abridged  from  Whartonh  note. 

NOTE  B. 

Mr.  XVharton  argues,  “  That  the  advanced  post  of  Gospel  preachers  is 
to  be  of  the  community,  to  remain  with  the  community,  and  to  subside  in 
the  community  :  its  work  to  consist  not  in  instruction  in  Theology ;  not  in 
Church  discipline  or  government ;  not  in  pastoral  charge :  not  in  admin¬ 
istering  the  ordinances ;  but  in  telling  the  glad  tidings  in  the  close  beat¬ 
ing  of  heart  to  heart,  and  the  near  looking  of  eye  to  eye.  So  was  it  in 
the  Reformation.  The  “  Gospellers”  who  preached  in  the  market-places, 
who  sold  Tyndale’s  Bible  at  the  fairs,  who,  staff  in  hand,  worked  their 
way  from  hamlet  to  hamlet,  who  suffered  at  the  stake,  were  laymen.  The 
English  Reformation  came  not  from  Cranmer,  nor  from  Henry  X^III.,  nor 


28 


even  from  Kidley,  but  from  these  unknown  and  uncommemorated  men, 
who  of  the  people,  acted  with  the  people,  and  soon  spoke /or  the  people. 
So  was  it  with  the  preliminaries  of  the  great  awakening  of  the 
Mother  Church,  toward  the  end  of  the  last  century.  Alas !  that  we 
should  say  it,  but  this  work  was  carried  on  by  men,  who,  by  their  own 
showing,  as  well  as  by  our  own  actions  were  to  us  as  laymen.’^ — p.  23. 

NOTE  C. 

Mr.  Wharton  contrasts  two  periods  in  the  Galilean  Church  :  when  it 
exulted  in  a  constellation  of  intellect  and  culture,  such  as  no  religious  body 
has  at  any  time  excelled, then  “  her  laity  were  heard  through  her  press, 
in  her  monasteries,  and  in  her  public  avenues.'^  Then,  w’^hen  great^laymen 
like  Perrault  and  Paschal,  spoke  did  the  ecclesiastical  intellect  of  France 
rise  in  a  superb  lustre.  Then  were  heard  the  thunder  notes  of  Bossuet, 
of  Massillon  of  Bourdaloue,  Then  were  published  the  acute  disquisitions 
of  Arnauld,  and  the  sw'eet  Commentaries  of  QuesneV’  etc.  But  soon 
there  came  a  change — Jesuitism  prevailed — Jansenism  was  proscribed — 
lay  preachers  were  silenced — and  soon,  in  the  language  of  Bobert  Hall, 

The  Gallican  Church  felt  herself  at  liberty  to  become  as  ignorant,  as 
secular,  as  irreligious  as  she  pleased ;  and  amidst  the  silence  and  darkness 
she  had  created  around  her,  she  drew  the  curtains  and  retired  to  rest.’^ 
Soon  in  those  halls,  where  once  flashed  the  eye  of  the  eagle  of  Meaux, 
wms  heard  the  cri^p,  scoffing  laugh  of  Voltaire,  and  then  the  blasphemous 
yell  of  Marat 

To  consider  a  notable  instance  of  the  same  kind  in  the  English  Church. 

Of  all  the  Anglican  clergy,  the  non-jurors  held  the  most  arbitrary  views 
of  sacerdotal  prerogative.  The  laity  were, according  to  them,  “in no 
sense  to  be  aught  but  catechumens — to  learn,  but  not  to  teachP  They  be¬ 
came,  with  honorable  exceptions,  hangers  on  of  great  men,  and  reduced  to 
“  mean  acts  and  dishonorable  shifts.^’  “  They  were  preachers  without 
hearers,  so  long  as  they  preached  at  all.  ****** 
It  was  not  that  their  schism  was  not  disinterested,  and  impelled  by  a  noble 
enthusiasm;  it  was  not  that  they  (the  non-jurors  of  the  first  generation), 
did  not  include  some  saintly  and  highly  cultivated  men.  Such  were  Ken, 
whom  the  Catholic  Church  will  always  regard  as  one  of  her  purest  and 
brightest  lights :  Archbishop  Sancroft,  Bishops  Turner,  Lake,  and  Loyd, 
wdiom  she  will  cherish  among  her  bravest  confessors ;  Leslie,  as  one  of  the 
most  acute  and  subtle  of  her  apologists;  Collier,  as  the  most  elfective  and 
fearless  of  critics  and  literary  reformers  of  his  times;  and  Bodwell  and 
Hicks,  as  among  her  most  erudite  scholars.’^ 

Of  the  non-jurors  of  the  second  generation,  Mr.  Wharton  says  :  “  They 
had  every  motive  to  sustain  them ;  they  had  p.,  legitimate  succession;  they 
had  the  distinction  of  martrydom  without  its  extermination ;  they  had  a 
true  and  pure  creed  and  a  faultless  liturgy ;  they  had  the  enthusiasm  of  a 


29 


splendid,  and  in  many  respects  just  cause.  Certainly,  as  to  the  mere  ques¬ 
tion  of  estahlishmentarianism,  there  was  no  choice  between  themselves  and 
their  Erastian  opponents.  But  what  became  of  them  ?  Compare  them 
with  the  Huguenots.  The  English  martyrs  loitered, in  easy  and  unfruitful 
indolence,  about  their  old  haunts  ;  the  French  toiled  with  thej^r  own  hands 
and  taught  as  they  toiled.  The  former  had  the  liberty  of  speech  opened 
to  them,  but  spoke  to  emptied  rooms  *  the  latter  were  gagged,  were  muti¬ 
lated,  were  proscribed ;  but  in  the  forest,  in  the  upper  chamber,  in  the 
cave,  found,  illiterate  as  they  were,  eager  auditors  ;  coming  under  cover 
of  night,  and  almost  under  the  royal  guns,  for  miles  and  miles  ;  forming, 
when  they  assembled,  one  compact,  living  heart.  Both  had  America  spread 
out  for  their  free  effort.  The  former  were  followed  by  a  few  broken  down 
gentlemen  of  Jacobite  creed,  and  have  themselves  been  described  to  us 
as  idle,  arrogant  and  ineflEicient ;  the  latter  [carried  with  them  thousands 
of  faithful  and  pious  artisans,  to  the  marshes  of  Brandenburg,  to  the  crowd¬ 
ed  lanes  of  London,  to  the  shores  of  Virginia,  of  New-York,  and  South 
Carolina.  With  such  odds  in  favor  of  the  non-jurors  I  can  attribute  this 
difference  in  results  to  but  one  cause,  the  Huguenot  ministers  were  of  the 
people,  felt  with  them,  spoke  their  vernacular,  and  heard  the  same  mother 
tongue  speaking  back  to  their  own  hearts  ;  and  thus,  through  the  action 
and  counter-action  of  preacher  and  hearer,  of  teacher  Avith  teacher,  pro¬ 
moted  and  extended  pervasive,  life-controlling,  heart-subduing  theology. 
But  the  non-juror  first  inflicted  on  his  flock  the  mischiefs  of  a  monopoly 
as  to  others,  and  then  suffered  the  results  of  a  monopoly  as  to  self. 

“  It  has  been  observed,  that  during  John  Wesley^s  life,  the  Methodist 
preachers  claimed  to  exercise  their  gifts  merely  as  lay  members  of  the 
National  Church.  In  this  period  of  resuscitation  of  religion,  within  as 
well  as  without  the  Church,  an  earnest,  faithful,  preaching  lait}^  stood 
side  by  side  with  a  body  of  clergymen,  than  whom  there  have  never  been 
any  more  zealous,  more  able,  more  loved,  and  more  honored.  Those  were 
the  days  when  Wilberforce,  Thornton,  Charles  Grant,  Zachary  Macaulay, 
Sir  Bichard  Hill,  stood  side  by  side  with  Cecil,  John  NcAvton,  Fletcher, 
Bomaine,  Scott,  and  Wilson. 

But  in  an  earlier  period,  ‘-in  one  sense  the  darkest”  in  our  Church  His¬ 
tory,  I  am  willing  to  seek  for  the  illustration  of  the  working  of  lay  evan¬ 
gelization.  . .  In  those  days  the  clergy  fell  into  two  great  classes.  The  first, 
with  few  exceptions,  were  jacobites  in  politics  and  non-jurors  in  everything 
but  schism.  . .  How  did  these  men,  who  claimed  to  be  the  sole  organs 
through  which  religion  could  speak,  prepare  themselves  for  their  awful 
responsibility  ?  What  effect  did  the  conviction  of  the  exclusive  possession 
of  this  august  gift  have  upon  them  ?  Let  us  see.  Among  these  divines, 
numerous  as  they  were,  the  Church  of  England  found  not  one  able  apolo¬ 
gist — scarcely  one  teacher  or  preacher,  whom  history  brings  down  to  us, 
as  capable  of  swaying  the  heart  or  convincing  the  judgment — very  few 
men  of  literary  taste  or  theological  culture.  The  only  works  of  high 


30 


merit,  as  we  are  told,  that  sprung  from  a  rural  parish  in  those  days,  were 
the  Vindication  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  Apostolical  Harmony, 
of  the  Eev.  George  Bull,  written  and  published  by  him  when  at  the  liv¬ 
ings  of  Suddington,  St.  Mary,  and  Suddington  near  Cirencester.  But  this 
eminent  divine,  afterward  better  known  as  Bishop  of  St.  Davids,  reso¬ 
lutely  severed  himself  from  the  nonjurors,  in  principle  as  well  as  polity. 

“  There  was  another  class,  forming  in  the  main  the  metropolitan  and 
university  clergy,  who  were  beset  with  far  different  influences  from  those 
which  narrowed  the  minds,  and  contracted  the  influence  of  the  class  just 
described.  Let  us  look,  however,  at  the  associations  by  which  this  last 
class  were  surrounded.  Eminent  in  their  counsels,  and  active  in  carrying 
on  with  them  the  missionary  work,  were  laymen,  whom  even  Barrow, 
Sherlock,  Beveridge,  and  Tennisoo,  could  condescend  to  call  brethren  and 
friends.  There  were  Robert  Boyle,  the  earliest  advocate  of  a  scheme  of 
missionary  extension,  Daniel,  Earl  of  Nottingham,  and  William  Melmouth. 
There  was  Francis,  second  Lord  Guilford,  and  John  Hook,  a  leading  bar¬ 
rister,  and  William  Harvey,  the  discoverer  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood, 
and  Col.  Maynard  Colchester,  all  of  whom  were  active  in  the  organiza¬ 
tion  of  the  Society  for  the  promotion  of  Christia7i  Knowledge,  which  in  its 
infancy  ivas  almost  solely  under  lay  management.  To  them  was  soon  add¬ 
ed  Robert  Nelson,  author  of  the  well-known  treatise  on  Easts  and  Fes¬ 
tivals.*^ 

“  Now  here  was  a  body  of  laymen  of  signal  ability  and  high  position, 
having  in  their  number  men  noble  in  birth  and  distinguished  in  every  de¬ 
partment  of  science,  and  in  each  learned  profession.  These  exercise  the 
highest  functions  below  the  ministry.  They  write  practical,  devotional 
treatises ;  they  publish  exhortations  ]  they  issue  commentaries  on  the  ser¬ 
vices  of  the  Church;  they  defend  her  polity  and  her  doctrines;  they 
voluntarily,  with  but  one  clergyman  in  their  number  (the  Rev.  Dr.  Brayj 
take  upon  themselves  the  formation  of  a  Society  which  assumes  the  work, 
not  only  of  issuing  tracts,  but  of  sending  out  Missionaries. 

‘‘  Now  what  was  the  effect  of  this  on  the  clergy  ?  I  answer  that  there 
never  was  a  brighter  constellation  collected  in  the  English  Church,  than 
that  which  fostered  and  was  fostered  by  these  laymen.  Never  did  a  body 
of  clergy  rank  higher  for  their  eloquence,  for  learning,  for  liberal  culture, 
for  grave  and  earnest  devotion  to  their  great  cause,  for  the  honor  and  rev¬ 
erence  paid  to  them  by  the  community,  not  the  least  distinguished  among 
whom  were  these  same  ‘  preaching’  laymen.  It  would  be  an  error  to 
ascribe  this  to  any  phase  of  theological  belief.  These  ministers  embraced 
all  shades ;  Tillotson,  gentle  and  wise,  gifted]  with  a  most  perspicuous 
style  and  persuasive  elocjuence ;  Berkley,  acute,  subtle,  and  zealous,  and 
endowed  “  with  all  the  virtues”  ;  Burnet  whose  ardent  love  of  souls  and 
indefatigable  industry  are  too  apt  now  to  be  lost  sight  of,  behind  the  political 
turmoils  behind  which  his  position  threw  him  ;  Butler,  the  most  philosophi¬ 
cal  and  profound  of  apologists ;  Lowth,  tho  most  classical  and  poetic  of 


commentators ;  Beveridge^  the  tenderest  of  homilists ;  Stillingfleet,  the 
keenest  of  controversialists  •  Cudworth  and  Henry  More,  still  lingering 
at  Cambridge;  and  South,  Jane,  and  Alrich  at  Oxford.  These  men,  em¬ 
inent  for  their  learning,  their  talents,  their  character,  and  their  piety,  were 
no  less  eminent  for  the  respect  and  honor  paid  to  them,  both  by  the  state 
and  the  community. 

“It  is  enough  to  say  that  we  have  two  juxtapositions  worthy  of  our  no¬ 
tice  at  this  period  of  English  ecclesiastical  history.  On  one  side,  we  see 
the  laity  ready  ever  to  persecute  an  unordained  preacher,  and  yet  the 
clorgy  illiterate,  inactive,  and  socially  dependent.  On  the  other  side  we 
see  laymen  active,  spiritual,  and  zealous,  and  the  clergy  refined,  pious,  and 
capable,  the  objects  of  public  reverence  and  love.’^ 


